


Into the Unknown

by spaceyquill



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:21:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21707389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaceyquill/pseuds/spaceyquill
Summary: Padmé, devastated by the fall of the Republic, fled to the Unknown Regions with Thrawn's help. Upon learning of the existence of a rebellion, she plans to return home.
Relationships: Padmé Amidala/Thrawn | Mitth'raw'nuruodo
Comments: 12
Kudos: 66
Collections: Star Wars Rare Pairs Exchange 2019





	Into the Unknown

**Author's Note:**

  * For [platinum_firebird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/platinum_firebird/gifts).



“Say that again,” Padmé gasped, wide eyed. Csilla’s beautiful frozen landscape lay forgotten, wiped from her mind by a single sentence from Thrawn as her hand automatically latched onto his arm. Thrawn, in contrast, retained his usual calm exterior with that one expression which always teetered on the brink of a smile. 

“The Ascendancy has tasked me with returning to your galaxy,” he repeated.

She gripped his arm harder. “No, the other part!”

“That I am to observe the feud between your Empire and rebellion.” 

It wasn’t any easier for Padmé to breathe upon hearing the news a second time. “There’s a rebellion?”

Leaving everything Padmé had known, her remaining friends, her people, her galaxy, had been the hardest decision of her life. But on the heels of the newly-designated _Emperor_ Palpatine’s order to kill the Jedi—and Padmé could only assume her husband was among the casualties—she knew she was in danger as well. Everything she had worked for, everything she stood for, was crumbling around her, and as she watched the Jedi Temple burning Padmé decided she couldn’t stay to crumble, too. For the safety of her and her child, she reached out to Thrawn with the contact information he’d given her on the planet Mokivj—a slim chance for a slim hope—and he had responded. 

As Padmé’s handmaidens gave Padmé a convincing state funeral on Naboo, Padmé herself waited in a ship at a rendezvous point near the edge of the Unknown Regions where she was picked up by a large foreign ship. She landed on Csilla just in time to give birth to twins. 

That was three years ago. Three years that the Empire had had free reign over what had once been a Republic. But now there was a rebellion? One noticeable by even a foreign power. 

Padmé wanted to sit down, but there was nothing for that on this balcony so she leaned on the railing with both hands. 

“There’s an active rebellion?” she repeated, mostly to herself. She could only hope Mon and Bail had something to do with it, that they had amassed like-minded people. 

A warmth wrapped around her as Thrawn’s arm draped her back, pulling her into the present. 

“Why does the Ascendancy want you to observe?” she asked. 

Thrawn pondered. When Padmé first arrived on his home planet and Thrawn began to learn Basic from her, Padmé assumes his pausing responses in both Basic and their original shared language Meese Caulf was Thrawn trying to find the right words in foreign tongues. Now she understood how aggressively secretive the Ascendancy was, and that Thrawn pausing meant he was parsing what he could actually tell her from what she wasn’t supposed to know. 

“Your people’s capabilities,” he said at last. 

In her short time living on Csilla, the Chiss had not been forthcoming about… well, about anything really. Still, they couldn’t keep the threat of the Grysks from her as Chiss ships were attacked and towns raided.

“You’re looking for allies,” Padmé guessed. “Ones strong enough to help defeat the Grysks.” Thrawn inclined his head but said nothing. The corners of his mouth lifted, something Padmé saw more often when they were alone than when they were in public. Or rather: when she had her escort in public, because the Chiss were only comfortable with one of their own watching her movements—something Thrawn regularly apologized about as he remained close to her.

A cry broke the stillness on the balcony, and Padmé hurried inside to the bed where the twins slept. Luke, already up and bawling into his hands, woke up Leia just as Padmé sat on the edge of the bed and folded him into her arms. 

“What’s wrong, another nightmare?” she asked. Luke nodded through his crying. Leia, never one to be ignored, held her arms out to Thrawn, who obligingly picked her up. As Padmé rocked Luke back and forth, Thrawn and Leia walked around the room in a little conversation of their own. 

Fifteen minutes and one Naboo lullaby later, Padmé returned with Thrawn to the balcony to find her thin wrap wasn’t enough to protect her from the night chill. She rubbed her arms until Thrawn draped her in his overcoat. 

“I’m starting to think I’ve been away too long. I ran from the Empire, leaving others to deal with it instead. I should go home,” Padmé decided. 

“You left to guarantee the safety of yourself and your children,” Thrawn said. “I would have done the same. Retreating to fight another day is always a better solution when outnumbered.”

“Could you take us with you?” Padmé asked. “Drop us off at the nearest inhabited planet; we’ll make our own way from there.” 

Thrawn actually glared at this. “I will not.” 

Padmé started. He’d never denied her anything so bluntly. It stung. Beyond that, even though Thrawn’s house agreed to sponsor three humans on their planet, it was Thrawn whom Padmé had ever interacted with, and if he left… 

“I’m being sent to observe precisely because we know so little of the current situation in your galaxy. At least wait for me to return, to tell you what to expect.” 

“How long will you be gone?”

“A year.” 

Even with his coat covering her, the balcony once more grew cold. It was a long time to wait. Some part of her worried that a rebel effort might not last that long, but she had to have hope. After all, it was a slimmer chance that Thrawn would even answer her call when she contacted him at the birth of the Empire, and that had worked out… well. 

Thrawn’s voice grew low. “If, after being informed of the circumstances, you still wish to return home, you may.” 

“I’m sure your people will be happy to see me go.”

“In all actuality, they will believe you now know too much of our planet and people, and would wish you not be able to spread that information among other foreigners. So I would recommend that you not tell anyone else of your desire to leave Csilla for good.” 

Of course. Just when she thought she could do the Chiss a favor, she would really be inconveniencing them further. It was times like this that Thrawn’s behavior shone through. He’d risked his house name to convince his people to allow a human to live on their planet, and the first thing said human had done when given begrudging permission was to produce more humans. 

“Thank you,” Padmé said in just as low a voice. Maybe he knew she meant for everything, but at the moment she didn’t have the ability to vocalize that. Instead, Padmé reached out to him, fingers snagging in the asymmetrical layers of his shirt. He closed the distance between them when she pulled and they met in a kiss. 

One year later, Thrawn returned to the closed meeting rooms of the Chiss Ascendancy Defence Headquarters. But he still managed to visit Padmé’s house, where Luke and Leia waited to cling onto him. The twins put up an extra fight when Padmé tried to wrangle them into bed that night. Eventually, she ended up alone with Thrawn on the balcony again. 

“What’s it like back home?” Padmé asked. 

“The Empire controls much and has an impressive number of troops, though it’s currently bogged down with skirmishes from a small but tenacious rebellion. The Ascendancy still considers it likely that we could join together as allies, and for that reason they’re sending me back to aid the Empire.”

“ _Aid_ the Empire?!” Her words came out more violently than even she expected; it was a wonder the twins didn’t come to investigate. 

“The sooner they rid themselves of the source of the drain on their time and resources, the sooner they can build a formidable arsenal which the Chiss will need in order to defeat the Grysks. If the Ascendancy falls to our enemy, nothing will stop them from spreading to your galaxy as well. Our enemy is the same.” 

“Why not aid the rebellion to defeat the Empire?” 

“It is… unlikely that the rebellion will defeat the combined power of the Empire. Even if they do, they will then need time to change the government across their galaxy, which does not suit the Chiss interests.” 

Part of Padmé understood that reasoning, a foreign power with no allegiance in the matter picking the more logical side. But a larger part of her couldn’t help feeling betrayed. There was no justice in one evil power defeating an invading force deemed evil by the Chiss. If Thrawn as an advisor was expected to aid the Empire enough to repel an unknown threat, then Padmé returning and advising the rebels would have to be a similar boon. 

“Are we still allowed to leave?” 

“You are. But please understand the risk.” 

“At this point, a greater risk will be remaining here among the Chiss while you leave for my corner of the galaxy.”

“Leia would be welcomed in our navy as a navigator if you stay,” Thrawn said. “Even Luke—my people are thoroughly intrigued that he has the gift of Third Sight. Perhaps something more.”

“I’ll do everything in my power to keep them safe, but I can no longer sit here while there’s a rebellion out there risking everything to survive. And I won’t let my family be separated.” 

For once, Thrawn looked at a loss for words. Padmé gazed out at the horizon, at the splintered glaciers that looked like jagged blue mountains. The view was jarringly serene compared to the emotions swirling inside her. Mostly, she was angry at herself for even harboring the hope that the Ascendancy would choose to assist the rebellion. Of course they wouldn’t. The way they revered strength in their culture guaranteed their attraction to an established empire as opposed to a resistance which had yet to overthrow anything. 

“We’ll be enemies after this,” Padmé said, frowning. Thrawn had become such a constant in her life—in all their lives. He was the only person besides her whom the twins demanded to be picked up and carried by. 

“Yes,” Thrawn agreed softly. The dejection in his voice dragged her gaze back to him, to an expression that pained her to look at. It was all the distress she felt plain on his face. “I wish you would reconsider.”

“I can’t.” Her words sounded disappointed to her own ears. “But I will never forget everything you’ve done for us.” 

Thrawn looked like he was about to reply, but instead he pulled her against him, folding her into a kiss as naturally as if they’d done this more than once. The way he kissed her, the way he clung to her, was possessive; desperate. Padmé responded in kind as if willing this one moment to last forever. 

A chill strong enough they couldn’t ignore finally broke them apart. 

“I will set out on my mission whenever you and the children are ready to leave,” Thrawn said as the two of them returned inside. 

Padmé put on a smiling face and linked arms with Thrawn, walking with him on their well-worn path to the front door. She had faced heartbreak before; she wouldn’t let this extinguish her capacity to hope for and work toward a better future. For her, for Luke and Leia, and for Thrawn. “In case I don’t have the opportunity to tell you later on: I will personally extend a pardon to you when the Empire falls.” 

They paused at the door, Thrawn’s hand hovering over the control panel. “That is kind of you. And I will hold you to it, because in all my years in the Ascendancy, I’ve never found a more compelling reason outside of you to disobey their orders.” He left Padmé open-mouthed and blushing and hopeful. Maybe one day her new family, formed from the birth of an empire, could be reunited with its destruction.


End file.
